PENITENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does penitent mean? 

• PENITENT (noun)
  The noun PENITENT has 1 sense:

1. (Roman Catholic Church) a person who repents for wrongdoing (a Roman Catholic may be admitted to penance under the direction of a confessor)

  Familiarity information: PENITENT used as a noun is very rare.

• PENITENT (adjective)
  The adjective PENITENT has 1 sense:

1. feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds

  Familiarity information: PENITENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PENITENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(Roman Catholic Church) a person who repents for wrongdoing (a Roman Catholic may be admitted to penance under the direction of a confessor)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("penitent" is a kind of...):

religious person (a person who manifests devotion to a deity)

Domain category:

Church of Rome; Roman Catholic; Roman Catholic Church; Roman Church; Western Church (the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "penitent"):

flagellant (a person who whips himself as a religious penance)

Derivation:

penitent (feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds)

• PENITENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds

Synonyms:

penitent; repentant

Similar:

contrite; remorseful; rueful; ruthful (feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses)

penitential; penitentiary (showing or constituting penance)

Also:

ashamed (feeling shame or guilt or embarrassment or remorse)

bad; regretful; sorry (feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone)

Antonym:

impenitent (not penitent or remorseful)

Derivation:

penitence (remorse for your past conduct)

penitent ((Roman Catholic Church) a person who repents for wrongdoing (a Roman Catholic may be admitted to penance under the direction of a confessor))

 Context examples 

The penitent kiss was better than a world of words, and John had her on his knee in a minute, saying tenderly...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I can make no submission—I am grown neither humble nor penitent by what has passed.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The surprise and its consequences would have been much less disagreeable to me if he had not been penitent.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He expressed no regret for what he had done which satisfied her; his style was not penitent, but haughty.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In such frame of mind sinners come to the penitent form.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She looked penitent.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As a daughter, he hoped a penitent one, she should be protected by him, and secured in every comfort, and supported by every encouragement to do right, which their relative situations admitted; but farther than that he could not go.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent said:—There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of trouble; didn't I say it all along?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But he was very penitent indeed, and in a peculiar way—not in the lump, but by instalments.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)